Rasgos de la interpretación arqueológica. La hipótesis sobre compartir alimentos en el paleolítico

Resumen

Archaeological interpretation traits

An example of an archaeological interpretation of certain traces of hominid intervention over the environment is examined in order to show some aspects of its disciplinary reasoning: its hypothetical nature, its choice of certain types of evidence and certain models to interpret them. The example under consideration is the classic interpretation of Glynn Isaac about food sharing behavior, inferred from the particular spatial and qualitative configuration of a group of archaeological remains. It is stated that each interpretative choice that is made discards not only unacceptable alternatives, but also other possible and acceptable ones within the viewpoint with which they are made. It is proposed that the biases that lead to choose one over the others come from various sources: inclinations and beliefs of who investigates, their certainties on the bodies of information that are appropriate to interpret, the prevailing academic environment, the focuses of attention, among others. Emphasis on searching and evaluation of consistency and coherence in models and analogies is made. Finally, it is proposed that by accepting the fragmentary, approximate and hypothetical nature of archaeological explanation, it can be clearly seen how plausible, fruitful, interesting and informative it is.

key words. Archaeological interpretation, food sharing behavior, Paleolithic archaeology